


Care to Collide

by flannelfeelings



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Babies, Car Accidents, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, HAPPY ending no one is hurt!, Happy Ending, Hurt Amy Santiago, Hurt/Comfort, Jake Peralta Loves Amy Santiago, Married Couple, Married Life, Mild Angst, Mild Blood, Parents Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Post S7, Protective Jake Peralta, baby mac, the mid-sized SUV they bought pre-Mac makes its fanfic debut for me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25178110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flannelfeelings/pseuds/flannelfeelings
Summary: Amy crashes the Champagne SUV.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 10
Kudos: 127





	Care to Collide

**Author's Note:**

> Welp I got into a car accident today and I really had the most supremely nightmarish day altogether. When it rains it pours, right? 
> 
> Writing this released some tension and anxiety! Hope you enjoy! Please let me know your thoughts, thanks! :)

Being a mom was kind of a _lot._

Make no mistake, Amy Santiago loved her son. She loved waking up at 3AM to feed him or cuddle him, she loved cleaning milk stains off the nice hardwood floors after breakfast, she even loved wiping his stinky butt. Especially, she loved watching her husband Jake take care of him.

But sometimes, she was tired.

Jake was working late today, and it was her day off. She and Mac were on their way to Karen’s house to have lunch. Mac had been up all night, at a year old he was starting to sleep better throughout the night, but it still wasn’t completely smooth sailing. Amy had volunteered to get him all night, since Jake had to work early. Normally, her husband would fight her on that and they’d split the duty anyway, but Jake was exhausted from working a triple homicide three nights in a row.

Which left a very worn out, exhausted Amy and a very cranky Mac piling into the car around noon. She’d managed to quell his crying with his favorite giraffe stuffed animal, and they’d gotten about two blocks from the apartment before he started in again.

She’d checked his diaper, fed him, made sure he was completely okay. There was nothing wrong with him. Sometimes babies just _cry_.

While she’d known that was a large part of parenting, in practice it wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Amy loved her family more than anything, she would kill or die for her son, but hearing him shriek about absolutely nothing for an entire car ride was not in the cards today. Not with how exhausted she was.

“Mac N Cheese.” she whined, glancing at him in the rearview mirror and using the silly nickname Jake had coined in an effort to calm him, “We’re almost to Grammy’s.”

Usually the one-year-old would be ecstatic about being at his grandma Karen’s, but not today. He only cried harder, louder, and more distracting. Amy knew she should pull over and wait him out, but who knew how long he’d be doing this for? He was tired and grumpy and just wanted to be pissed off at the world. Her own fatigue wasn’t helping the situation.

Amy tried her best to ignore it as she turned left toward the familiar street that led onto the highway. Once they were up to smooth-sailing freeway speeds with no lights, she had a feeling he’d take a nice long nap and not awaken until after lunch. They were almost there.

It took only a split second. A brief moment, where Amy glanced behind her desperately at her crying baby, and asked him, “Mac! Please calm down!” before she turned back to the road and saw that the green light was now red, and a long line of cars had piled up. Amy tried her best to slam on the brakes as hard as she could, but it wasn’t fast enough.

The front end of the year old SUV she and Jake had bought in preparation of starting their family (that they’d almost lost to Hitchcock) smashed into the pickup truck in front of them.

In that first moment, time seemed to stop. Amy could see each particle of metal that screeched together as the cars collided. She was thrown forward with the impact, cursing loudly as her head hit the sun visor. Then they were stopped. Mac’s cries halted.

It took Amy a moment to come back down to earth, though she could feel a throbbing pain in her forehead where she’d collided with the sun visor. The bulky air freshener that hung off of it had hit her in just the right way so that a thin cut was sliced above her eyebrow, staining her face with blood. Then, she moved into action.

After they’d both pulled over off the raod, Amy threw on her hazards and got out of the car. She was greeted by a middle-aged man who looked positively furious, though his truck appeared unharmed. As for their champagne colored SUV however...she could barely even stomach to look at the crumpled front end.

She knew it wasn’t safe to move him until the EMTs arrived, but she had to make sure he was okay. Amy threw the back door open and climbed in, keeping Mac in his car seat but leaning over to check.

He was breathing easily, staring up at her with those big brown eyes, his face still a bit red from all of his cries this morning. She held out her finger for a moment and moved it back and forth, relieved when his gaze followed it smoothly, indicating that he likely didn’t have a concussion. His chubby hand swung up to meet hers, and she grasped it tightly in her fist. He squeezed her index finger with the strength she knew he’d inherited from his dad. He was okay.

She heard the other driver making a frustrated call to the police, and sighed heavily, knowing this would be an ugly day from here on out. She stepped back out of the car, leaving the windows rolled down so she could hear if Mac needed anything. He watched her go, still looking on in confusion.

“Hi.” Amy approached the man after he’d hung up with the police, “I am really sorry. Are you okay?”

The man scowled deeply at her, crossing his arms over his chest, “Not really, lady, you hit me.”

“I’m so sorry.” she repeated, “I’ll make sure you have all of my insurance information so we can get your car fixed.”

Of course, there was barely a scratch on his truck’s bumper, but she knew she was at fault and needed to make nice. She and Jake paid a little extra for a decent plan, so anything they needed repaired on his end would be covered. As far as their SUV...their deductible was a thousand bucks, which they didn’t exactly have right now.

“Uh, of course you will.” the man replied sourly, “You hit me.”

“Right.” Amy nodded, “Did the police say how long?”

“Ten minutes, EMTs are coming too.” he glanced through the windshield, then back at her, “Driving like that with a kid in your car?”

She ignored that, “I’ll just wait over here.” Amy walked back to the car and slid in the backseat next to Mac, sighing heavily as she felt her forehead and pulled her fingers away, grimacing at the stain of red blood.

It felt like an eternity, but finally a squad car followed by an ambulance pulled up beside them. Amy climbed out of the car and the EMT rushed over to her, worried about her forehead.

“No my son is in the car.” she waved off his concern, pointing through the window at Mac, “Please check him first.”

The EMT nodded and went to the car, followed by one of his partners.

“Sergeant Santiago?” Amy turned at the voice, and sighed as she saw a friendly face. One of the uniformed officers, Andre Matthews was approaching the scene.

“Hey Andre.” She greeted him with relief.

“Are you alright? Your forehead!” the young officer looked panicked as he took in her appearance.

“Wait, you’re a cop?” the other driver cut in before she could reply, offering them both a scowl, “I hope you’re not thinking you can get off just ‘cause you’re a cop!”

“Of course not.” she assured him, “I am completely at fault, sir. I will not deny that.”

Andre offered her a sympathetic smile, “What happened Amy?”

Amy ran a hand through her hair messily, sighing as she leaned against the car, “Honestly I just turned to look behind me and...didn’t see that he’d stopped. It was just for a second but that was enough.”

Andre nodded, “It happens to everyone.”

“Not really.” The other driver scoffed.

Andre ignored him, “I’m gonna call your husband, okay?”

Amy dreaded having to tell Jake what happened, knowing it was her fault and she’d just cost them a ton of money, higher insurance premiums, and their beautiful new car, not to mention their son’s safety. God, she was an even worse wife than she was a mom.

“I have to give you a citation.” Andre told her before he pulled out his radio. Amy nodded in understanding and watched as he spoke into the feed, “Dispatch this is Officer Matthews 3456. I’m responding to the car accident scene on Bleeker.”

Amy heard the garbled, “Dispatch, proceed, over.”

“One of the drivers involved is Sergeant Santiago, can someone please get Detective Peralta on the line so he can come meet her here? I’m thinking he’ll need to drive her to the hospital.”

“Oh! Yes, officer. Detective Peralta is in the precinct, we will get him sent to you.”

“Thank you. Over.” Andre smiled at Amy and then said to her, “I’m gonna get the report written up so you two can exchange info, then I’ll have to give you the ticket and hopefully Jake is here by then so you three can leave.”

“Thanks Andre.” Amy told him, and moved her attention back to the EMTs in the car, “How is he?”

“He’s just fine.” One of them replied, and she offered Amy a gentle smile, “You’ll just need to get him a new car seat, that’s standard protocol after an accident. But we see no reason to worry about him.”

“You on the other hand.” Said the other EMT as he climbed out of the car to join his partner, “May need stitches.” and pointed at Amy’s forehead, “Will you need an ambulance to the ER?”

Amy shook her head, “My husband is on his way.”

“Let me gauze you up for the drive.” the other EMT said, and she disappeared for a moment before returning with a cleaning solution and gauze, “You’ll definitely need stitches.” She concurred after she’d finished putting the gauze over Amy’s cut, “This will probably bleed through in a half hour.”

Amy and the other driver (whose name was Milford) both filled out their paperwork and were just handing it over to Andre when a familiar green sedan screeched up to the scene. Amy sighed in anticipation.

Jake was out of the car mere milliseconds after pulling over, his sneakers hitting the pavement hard as his sights locked on his wife, standing by their destroyed car with bloody gauze pressed against her forehead. His frantic gaze flitted between the backseat of the car and Amy for a second, before he made a decision and lurched toward the back. Amy watched as he climbed into the backseat.

After a moment, he was back out and at her side, crushing her into his arms as his panicked voice was in her ear, “Ames, are you okay? The baby? He looks okay but- _is_ he okay? Did they check him out? Did you hit your head? Babe, are you okay?”

“We’re okay.” She assured him quickly, wincing, “The car, not so much.”

Jake frowned, “Who gives a shit about the car Amy?”

She decided to ignore that for now, “Mac’s okay, the EMTs checked him out. I uh...need stitches.”

“Jesus.” Jake grimaced, gentle fingers coming up the side of her face, “What happened Ames?”

“I’m sorry Jake.” now that she was in the protective presence of Jake’s company, Amy could feel the walls starting to crumble, and she fought hard to stop the tears from coming. She didn’t want Andre and Milford to see her cry, “I-Mac wouldn’t stop screaming. I just looked back at him for a second, just a _second_ and when I turned it was too late. I’m so sorry, I’m so-”

“Hey, shhh. No.” Jake pulled her back in and allowed her to nuzzle her face into his neck, gently stroking her hair as he murmured, “It’s okay, no sorries. It happens babe, trust me. I’ve crashed plenty of cars in my day.”

Amy rolled her eyes, because despite all of his flaws and immaturity, Jake was one of the best drivers she knew, “It doesn’t count if you just got your license and your friends convinced you to do donuts in the school parking lot.”

“But that flagpole was forever destroyed.” Jake pulled back with a small, comforting smile, “It’s okay. You’re fine, Mac is fine, that’s all I care about.”

“But the car-”

“I don’t give a single fuck about the _car_ Amy.” Jake told her seriously, taking her chin gently between his fingers to make her look him in the eye, “I’m serious. Fuck the car. I’d set this car on fire if you asked me to.”

Amy felt herself laughing in spite of the awful situation, and her chest swelled with a familiar warmth that only Jake could bring her. He always knew just what to say to make the horrified swarm of anxiety blooming inside her to abate, even just a little.

“That’s nice.” Milford said sourly, breaking up the pleasant moment, “You should tell your little piggy wife to watch where she’s going next time.”

Amy could see the rigidness dance up Jake’s back as his shoulders stiffened and his nostrils flared, leaning around Amy to look at the other man. His biceps tensed and he released his grasp on her arms, his feet moving a step to close the distance between himself and Milford. Before he could do anything to turn this into an assault case instead of a car crash, Amy pressed a hand to his chest to stop him.

“He called me that because I’m a cop.” she explained, “He’s just frustrated. Let’s not make this worse for anyone.”

Jake’s scowl proved he obviously didn't like it, but he obliged, “Fine.” he shot Milford a disdainful glare, then turned to Andre, “Officer Matthews, are we good to go? Amy needs stitches.”

“Yes, we got all the documentation done and I gave the Sergeant her citation.” Andre nodded.

Jake’s angry expression turned a shade darker, “You gave her a _ticket_?”

“Yes Jake, I rear-ended someone.” Amy insisted, nudging his chest gently. As much as she loved how protective he was, sometimes he lost sight of reality and just blindly defended her honor.

“Okay.” Jake turned to her as Milford and Andre both got in their cars to leave, though the officer sat in his car to finish some paperwork, “I’ll grab the baby. Go climb in the passenger seat of my car, okay? I’ll call Charles and he can meet the tow-truck here.”

Amy was too exhausted to even argue that Charles didn’t have to do that. She just nodded and walked over to his car, sliding into the passenger seat with a heavy sigh. She watched as Jake gently pulled Mac from his seat, slinging the diaper bag over his shoulder, which always looked funny contrasting with his leather jacket. Amy didn’t peel her eyes off of the boys until they were at the car and Jake was loading Mac into the carseat in his own backseat.

Her phone buzzed with a text from Karen: **_Hey darling, you’ve never been late before. Is everything alright?_**

Amy wasn’t sure why, but that was the thing that set her off. As soon as her eyes finished processing the text from her mother-in-law, the tears started flowing and her shoulders were wracked with trembles. She sloppily sniffled and wiped at her face as Jake got behind the wheel.

“Oh, babe.” he leaned across the dashboard and pulled her in so her head was pressed against his chest as she soaked his flannel with tears.

“I-I’m sorry Jake!” Amy blubbered, the stress and fear of what had happened finally settling over her, “I’m an awful driver and a bad mom and a horrible partner. I destroyed the car and I put Mac at risk and-”

“Please Amy.” Jake interrupted her, squeezing her against him even tighter. She felt his chin rest on top of her head, “Accidents happen, okay? That’s the whole reason they call them accidents. Hell, _I_ was an accident.” He paused, “Probably didn’t need to add that. But I meant what I said. All I care about is that my wife and our baby are okay. And you are, except for your head. So I’m golden.”

“But it’s gonna be so expensive-”

“Money is also on my ‘don’t-give-a-fuck list.” Jake reminded her, “We can _always_ make more money, but we can’t make a new _Amy_. Besides, I like the one I’ve got too much.” he nuzzled gently into her hair and kissed her scalp with soft lips, “Even though she’s way too hard on herself.”

“I don’t deserve you.” she wailed.

“Stop that.” He told her sternly, “We deserve each other, okay? We’re a team. We both make mistakes and we get through them together. There is nothing we can’t get through. If we can survive prison, WITSEC, bombs at our wedding, we can survive a little fender bender.”

Amy laughed softly, nodding as she absorbed his words, glancing up at him with misty eyes. Jake’s thumb gently swiped across her cheek to dry it, and he planted a quick kiss on her nose.

“You’re an amazing mom, and the best wife anyone’s ever had. I count my blessings every day.” He told her sweetly, then smirked, “You _are_ a bad driver though. That’s always been true.”

“Oh shut up!” Amy shoved him off playfully, “Do you not remember my bumper car victory back in 2014? I destroyed you!”

“The objective of bumper cars is to _crash_!” he exclaimed.

“Either way, I’m a winner!” she insisted.

Jake chuckled, shaking his head as he turned the key in the ignition and backed out of their spot into the road, heading toward the hospital, “You bounce back fast, I’ll give you that.”

“Hard not to when I have the best motivational speaker in the game.” She said with a warm smile, that she hoped conveyed how grateful she was to have him.

“I love you Ames.”

“I love you so much, Jake.”

Finally, after several sustained minutes of silence, Mac began piping up again. He let out a shrill cry of complaint. Amy sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes with lassitude.

Jake’s hand reached over the center console and squeezed her thigh comfortingly. She looked up at his face, and amidst the backdrop of a screaming baby, a bleeding head-wound, and the promise of a difficult insurance phone call to make, Amy had never felt more at peace.


End file.
